


What is meant to be Will find its way

by MA2020



Category: Will & Grace
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-06
Updated: 2021-03-06
Packaged: 2021-03-11 23:15:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,179
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29875509
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MA2020/pseuds/MA2020
Summary: Karen falls for Grace
Relationships: Grace Adler/Karen Walker
Comments: 2
Kudos: 4





	What is meant to be Will find its way

**Author's Note:**

> This Fanfic is set across several scenes/episodes from Season 1 ...
> 
> S1 E3 “Head Case”  
> S1 E6 “William Tell”  
> S1 E7 “Where There’s a Will, There’s No Way”  
> S1 E19 “Will Works Out”  
> S1 E20 “Saving Grace”  
> S1 E21 “Alley Cats”  
> S1 E22 “Object of My Rejection”

_Karen has always had a soft spot for Grace, ever since they met. There was something about the redhead that drew Karen to her._

__

_Karen didn’t give it much thought in the beginning, chalking it up to the fact that she rarely met genuine, honest, decent people._

__

_And Grace certainly was that; from her budget-strapped ensembles, to her refusing to settle for anything less than true love, despite the lack of a safety net._

__

_Karen always sensed that Grace was someone worth keeping._

__

_Karen doesn’t ever recall feeling this way about anyone else._

_(Season 1 Episode 3 “Head Case”  
Grace designs a joint bathroom for her and Will. She tries to seek Karen’s assistance for this project, as Karen does nothing but read her Vogue magazines in the office.)_

Karen first felt something stir inside her the afternoon Grace tried to teach her about blueprints. 

Grace had just finished sketching her and Will’s joint bathroom, finding that the smaller bathroom assigned to her at Apartment 9C was too cramped for her personal needs.

Grace tried to make Karen assist her, persuading Karen into letting go of the Vogue Magazine she was reading at her desk, pulling her assistant to her work station, trying to explain to Karen her bathroom design.

Grace, as if by some miracle, was able to get through to Karen about blueprints and contractors. 

Grace was so relieved to have Karen understand that she grabbed one of Karen’s hands and placed it against her cheek, nodding her head excitedly as she said “Good Karen! Good!”

Karen remembers being very amused by Grace’s actions. 

That’s not the only thing that Grace elicits from Karen though.

Out of nowhere, Karen found herself very much affected by Grace’s touch. 

When Grace took Karen’s hand, and pressed it delightedly against the redhead’s cheek, Karen felt something inside her. Sure, she inwardly cringed when her palm came into contact with Grace’s skin, but she couldn’t have imagined the electricity that she felt go through her, immediate and intense. 

_What the hell was wrong with her?_ Karen was thinking at that moment, annoyed with herself. _This was Grace, for god’s sake._

As their conversation progressed, Karen found herself volunteering to come to work early, very much pleased by Grace’s confidence in her.

By the end of that day, Karen was wondering what was happening to her. 

She has never had the urge to prove herself to anyone else before.

_(Season 1 Episode 6 “William Tell”  
Karen seeks Will’s legal expertise, intending to divorce Stan. They have dinner at a restaurant to discuss Karen’s options ... Grace becomes paranoid when she finds out that Will has been keeping secrets from her. She tracks Will down to a restaurant where he is having a working dinner with a “secret client”.)_

Karen realizes something is definitely up when she finds herself wanting to leave her husband Stan.

Hanging around Grace’s office, being with Grace, has made Karen see just how much work she exerts into her marriage. It dawns on her that marriage doesn’t have to be hard at all.

Karen goes to Will’s office to ask for his help. She intends to divorce Stan.

Karen and Will have dinner at a restaurant to discuss Karen’s divorce.

There, she does not expect to encounter Will’s soft, empathetic heart. Will wants to help her, not only with the legalities, but as a friend.

Will gently mentions to Karen that a divorce from Stan would take an emotional toll on her. _Did Karen realize this? Did she know what she was getting into?_

Will had no way of knowing that he unwittingly brought up Karen’s worst fears. 

Having to go through raw unbridled emotions.

Karen’s resolve crumbles the second she hears Will’s words. She starts retreating faster than a squirrel scampering up a tree after spotting a grave threat.

Karen cannot stand to feel pain. That’s why she has Pharmacist 1. And back up Pharmacist 2.

Karen catches herself, retreating, convincing herself that she loves Stan after all, and obliterates from her mind her persistent thoughts about Grace; strange, alien ideas like wanting to know what it takes to make a good relationship. With Grace.

It was the little things really, that made Grace creep inside Karen’s thoughts. The fresh honesty. The belief in Karen. Never scolding Karen even when she deserved it. 

Karen loves that Grace tolerates her brattiness, choosing to ignore Karen whenever Karen makes fun of Grace’s clothes, not making a big deal out of Karen’s meanness towards her. 

As if on cue, like an ill-timed pregnancy, Grace suddenly shows up at the restaurant, all frazzled, looking for Will. 

Karen reverts back to her default behavior, attacking Grace’s outfit, to hide her uncomfortable, confused emotions for the redhead.

_(Season 1 Episode 7 “Where There’s a Will, There’s No Way”  
Grace is just not interested in dating.)_

Grace senses something is not quite right with her. She isn’t interested in dating. 

And she used to be such a dating machine. 

Will has been encouraging her to get back on the saddle, but it hasn’t been working. 

Karen is all but physically pushing her to the next available stranger on the street; helping her call up guys she used to know, pushing Grace into taking pills to improve her mood. 

Nothing has worked.

Grace eventually realizes what it is. 

Grace is dead on the inside. She feels nothing. That is why she is just not interested in anyone. 

No other reason, really.

_(Season 1 Episode 19 “Will Works Out”  
Karen and Stan have been incessantly fighting ... To help Karen get her mind off Stan, Grace invites her over for the weekend and they bond over tequila shots with lime, past love stories, switching into each others clothes and playing with Karen’s hair using countless hair ties.)_

Everything makes sense to Karen the night Grace invites her to hang out at Apartment 9C. 

Karen has been getting fed up of Stan again, becoming exhausted with the constant efforts she has had to put into her marriage. 

And who should be there to rescue her? Grace.

Grace and Karen have fun bonding in Will’s living room, downing tequila shots and throwing used lime wedges into the fireplace. Karen doesn’t recall ever having this much fun with another person. She doesn’t even mind wearing Grace’s pauper clothes.

Karen is having so much fun that, deep into the night, three little words spill from her lips. 

She tells Grace she loves her. 

Karen surprises herself, but she knew then. 

She meant what she said.

They were so drunk that they stumbled into Grace’s bedroom, giggling and wrestling, playing, having fun. 

When they get to the bed, Grace vehemently declares that she will be staying on the left side. Karen argues with her, only because she wanted to watch the redhead turn all emphatic over the littlest things. It was very endearing.

They each take one side, laying down, automatically turning on their sides, to face each other; faces so close together, a mere whisper apart. 

They are smiling, looking into each others eyes. Just being together.

Grace continues to smile goofily from ear to ear. She is groggy though. She takes a deep, happy breath, and her eyes tiredly close, the smile slowly disappearing from her lips as she falls asleep. Karen watches Grace, then lets her eyes close as well, the lightness in her heart putting a genuine, adorable smile on her face. 

Genuine smiles are rare for Karen.

Karen wakes up in the middle of the night. Her head is so uncomfortable on Grace’s pillow. _Ah yes._ Her head in covered in hair ties. She pretty much resembles a small rooster. 

She sits up, groaning, barely able to move, annoyed at how stiff, how uncomfortable her clothes are. She looks down. _Oh. She’s wearing Grace’s clothes._

She tiredly pulls out the hair ties from her head, then reaches up to run her fingers through her hair. It falls back naturally, not a lock of hair out of place. _Money._ She smiles to herself.

She looks over at the girl sleeping beside her. One corner of Karen’s mouth moves up, a small smirk forms in her lips. 

She definitely likes waking up next to Grace.

On cue, Grace stirs. Her eyes open, looking directly at Karen’s.

Karen’s features jolt a bit, she gets the teensiest bit flustered at being caught staring at Grace.

Grace smiles though. _That smile._ The one that lights up the room, obliterating everything else but the redhead’s presence. Karen is fucked. She groans inwardly.

“Why are you up?” Grace says softly. She moves to get up too, but falls back on her pillow and says instead,

“Ouch. My head hurts.” Grace grimaces and her hand reaches for her forehead.

“I’ll go get ya some water for that, Honey. 'Be right back.” Karen hurriedly gets up from the bed, not waiting for Grace’s response.

Grace stares after Karen, watching her hurriedly reaching for the door knob, hastily swinging the door open, half running into the hallway. 

Grace mildly wonders at Karen’s sudden thoughtfulness. And Speed. She has never seen the woman move so fast.

Grace looks down at her clothes. _She should change out of these._ She can’t afford to pay for them if she ruins Karen’s clothes.

Grace looks up as Karen reenters the bedroom, glass of water in hand. Karen looks so awkward holding a glass filled with water. 

Grace softly giggles to herself, taking the glass as Karen stretches her arm to awkwardly, stiffly hand the glass over to Grace.

“Thanks.” Grace gulps down the water, eyeing Karen thoughtfully.

“What are ya looking at?” Karen huffs defensively.

“Nothing.” Grace smiles into the glass, her eyes lighting up with amusement at her assistant’s stiffness around her.

Karen being awkward is kinda cute, Grace muses. She smiles to herself again.

“Ermm, back to sleep ya think? Unless you want anything else?” Karen looks at Grace pointedly, daring Grace to ask Karen for something else other than the water she had in her hand.

“No, I’m good. Thank you Karen.”

As they both settle back into their pillows, their backs resting against the mattress, both on their own sides of the bed, an uneasy silence ensues.

Karen’s thoughts are going into overdrive. She can’t help it. She isn’t used to denying herself anything. For years, she has been getting everything she wants at the drop of a hat. 

And, at that moment, Karen wanted so badly to kiss Grace. 

Her eyes are darting back and forth, uncomfortably unsure as to what she should do. She’s fidgeting with the bottom of the shirt she is wearing, which has decided to ride up her tummy.

Grace wonders what is up with Karen, as she feels Karen’s uneasiness. Maybe she can’t sleep in Grace’s clothes. Maybe they have become itchy and uncomfortable to wear now that the alcohol’s effects were gone from Karen’s system.

Grace sits up and turns to Karen.

“Karen? Would you like to change into pajamas? I can lend you a pair?”

Karen cringes a little, her eyes crinkling at the corners as she cautiously looks up at Grace, reluctant to say anything for fear Grace may just read her lascivious thoughts.

“I’m fine, Grace. Go to sleep.” Karen says hurriedly, as her eyes slam shut, effectively avoiding Grace’s gaze.

Grace shrugs and settles back into the bed, onto her side this time, facing Karen. She wriggles closer to her assistant, not thinking much of it, and wraps one arm across Karen’s waist, her face burrowing into the crook of Karen’s neck, taking in the scent of Karen’s hair.

“Do you mind? Good night.” Grace says sleepily.

Karen’s eyelids suddenly snap open, her eyeballs going up, almost disappearing into her skull, her lips curling up one side, grimacing, in utter frustration. She stiffens as Grace hugs her.

_Good lord._ Karen turns cross-eyed as she braces herself against Grace’s nearness. She has never in her life had to keep herself in check this much. She can practically taste Grace as she grits her teeth, a scowl forming on her perfectly shaped lips. _What the hell, Grace forgive me_ , were Karen’s last thoughts before she turns to face Grace, places her hand on Grace’s cheek and swoops down to kiss Grace’s soft lips.

Grace’s eyes fly open as she feels Karen’s lips on hers. Kissing her. Her eyes are as wide as saucers at the shock of her assistant suddenly swooping in, kissing her out of nowhere. 

Grace is so shocked, she freezes from head to foot, unable to move, her senses registering nothing else but Karen’s soft lips fervently moving against her own.

Grace is surprised as she feels electricity course through her body as Karen’s arms wrap around Grace, her palms sliding around Grace’s back, slipping under Grace’s shirt, gliding up Grace’s spine. Karen pulls Grace into her. 

Grace feels her head becoming dizzy again, her limbs weakening as Karen continues to kiss her. Grace’s eyes involuntarily close. She groans into Karen’s mouth as her arms tentatively wrap around Karen’s body.

She never would have imagined that Karen could make her feel this way.

Karen’s lips are locked with Grace’s, their kisses making both their heads spin. Karen urgently pushes her body into Grace, forcing the redhead’s back onto the mattress. 

“Honey?” Karen raggedly commands as she slides on top of Grace, “Take your clothes off, will ya?” Karen says, her hands sliding swiftly under Grace’s top, to cup Grace’s breasts, Karen’s thumbs caressing both nipples in firm, deliberate, circular patterns. 

Karen can’t take it. She yanks Grace’s top up, just above Grace’s breasts, and moves her head down to suck and tongue one of Grace’s nipples, continuing to cup both breasts, kneading gently but firmly, loving the taste of Grace against her mouth.

Grace hurriedly obeys Karen, yanking her top over her head. Karen shifts her body to allow Grace to tear the rest of her clothes off. 

Grace, naked, then proceeds to pull Karen’s top over her head. Karen allows her, an impatient scowl on her lips. As Grace pulls down Karen’s pants and underwear, Karen grunts and removes the rest of her clothes herself, off of her body. 

As Karen is trying to position herself on top of Grace again, Grace can’t help herself. Grace slides her hand in between Karen’s thighs, and plunges her fingers into Karen. Karen chokes, letting out a pained groan, her limbs partially giving way, her body crashing into Grace.

“Oh my lord” Karen mutters under her breath, against Grace’s skin, as her face falls into Grace’s neck as she feels Grace inside her.

Karen drags her face from Grace’s neck and moves up to dazedly look Grace in the eye.

Karen’s breath is heaving. She starts to gyrate painfully against Grace’s touch, her lips half open, her eyes glazed, trying to keep eye contact with Grace.

Achingly, Karen reaches down to pull Grace’s hand from between her thighs.

“Honey?” Karen pants into Grace’s mouth, as her lips swoop down to press her lips against Grace’s. “We have all the time in the world for that later. No fair. I get to go first.”

Grace nods a bit, her hands sliding over Karen’s hips instead. 

Karen drags her lips and hands down Grace’s body; dragging her tongue over Grace’s breasts, sucking, nipping, licking, down Grace’s stomach. Karen parts Grace’s thighs, parting Grace’s folds, and achingly, hungrily, repeatedly drags her tongue over Grace’s swollen clit.

Grace’s eyes involuntarily close, her back arches, her head tilts to one side. Her hands slowly slide up her own torso, to cup both her breasts. 

Grace’s breathing is shallow, as she gyrates, agonizingly thrusting into Karen’s mouth, a soft moan escaping Grace’s lips.

Grace does not anticipate Karen to suddenly, unexpectedly increase the rhythm of her tongue, her lips suddenly joining in to devour Grace, Karen giving into the hunger that she has been holding back for months.

Grace’s climax is sudden and immediate. Karen’s tongue and lips cause her core to reach unbearable feverish intensity. Grace lets out a loud, drawn out cry as she suddenly comes in Karen’s mouth, her hips gyrating feverishly.

As Grace’s breathing becomes less labored, Grace thinks to herself. She can’t believe it is this explosive with Karen. She wonders if she and Karen should make this a regular thing.

Karen hurriedly moves back atop Grace, sliding her body over the redhead’s, her face hovering above Grace. Karen immediately gyrates forcefully into Grace’s hips. 

Karen’s chest is heaving as she looks into Grace’s eyes.

Grace dazedly looks up at Karen’s beautiful face above hers. 

Grace reaches up to gently sweep aside the hair on one side of Karen’s neck, cupping the back of Karen’s head. She lifts her head from the pillow as she pulls Karen in, to plant soft kisses down the side of Karen’s throat. Karen arches her neck, throwing her head back as she allows Grace access to her skin. Karen can’t take much more of this.

Grace moves her other hand down the side of Karen’s torso, gently prodding Karen’s body to move further up Grace’s, as Grace’s lips begin to travel down Karen’s throat, her tongue lazily gliding over Karen’s collarbone, moving lower to kiss the slopes of Karen’s breasts. Karen is melting as she shifts her body to move further up Grace’s.

Karen’s palms are flat on either side of the bed, trying to hold herself up, her arms somewhat shaking. 

Grace cups both Karen’s breasts in her palms, kneading them sensually, carefully taking into her mouth Karen’s nipples, sucking, swirling her tongue.

Karen groans, she feels her arms weakening. 

Grace drags one of her hands down to slip in between Karen’s thighs. She enters Karen with her fingers, sliding deep into her wetness. Karen’s arms give way, a pained moan escaping her lips. 

Between Grace’s lips and tongue assaulting her nipples and Grace’s hand forcefully thrusting inside her, Karen feels herself about to explode.

Karen’s moans become extremely loud. She knows Will will hear her. She couldn’t care less. Karen lets out an anguished cry as she forcefully comes against Grace, her thrusting movements so intense she gets a little scared she may have injured Grace. Just a little.

Karen weakly falls on top of Grace after she comes and her lips swoop in to kiss Grace longingly. Karen is shaking from the intensity of her climax. 

After awhile, Karen moves off of Grace to settle into the crook of Grace’s arm. Karen burrows into Grace’s side, as close as she can.

She feels Grace’s arms go around her. Karen holds on tightly to Grace as she unwillingly falls asleep.

Karen is in love with Grace. 

_(Season 1 Episode 20 “Saving Grace”  
Grace lands a dream job designing Publicist Nathan Berry’s house.)_

Grace is frantically avoiding thinking about what happened between her and Karen. 

Grace throws herself into her work. 

The perfect opportunity comes when Nathan Berry starts hunting for an interior designer to renovate his house.

Grace is unbalanced. _What the hell was she thinking?_ It couldn’t have been the alcohol? They weren’t drunk anymore by the time they started fooling around. What the hell was she going to do? She dreads telling Will. Just one more mistake by Grain Adloaf for Will to fix and rescue her from.

The Nathan Berry project doesn’t work though. 

Karen was always with her, helping her every step of the way; to nab Nathan Berry as a client, to make the project happen, to see it through.

Although Karen never brought up what happened between them, Grace knew that something changed inside Karen that night. 

Grace is too panicked to find out what. 

_(Season 1 Episode 21 “Alley Cats”  
Will, Grace, Ellen and Rob do Game Night and go bowling. Karen saves a repairman’s life when he has a heart attack while fixing the heat in Grace’s office.)_

Grace decides to ditch Karen and work, starts to spend loads of time with Will, Ellen and Rob, playing games, going bowling, anything to avoid Karen and her own thoughts.

She abandons Karen in the office, knowing a repair man was going to be coming in to fix the heat. 

Grace is so freaked out that she willingly ditches all her responsibilities just to avoid facing Karen.

_(Season 1 Episode 22 “Object of My Rejection”  
Grace goes out on a date with ex fiancé Danny; Danny spends the night with Grace after their date ... To keep Rosario in the country, Jack marries her.)_

Nothing has worked. And Grace is running out of excuses to avoid Karen.

She resorts to the only thing left that must be worth trying. 

Getting back together with Danny. 

For the first time in her life, there is something that scares her more than Will’s admonishments, his stares of disapproval at letting Danny back into her life.

And so Grace goes on a date with Danny. Danny sleeps over and the two of them face Will’s stony face and silent disapproval the next day.

Grace needs to do everything to forget about what happened between her and Karen. 

Anything to get Karen out of her head.

_(After Jack and Rosario’s Wedding)_

Grace is back at Apartment 9C after having attended Jack and Rosario’s Wedding. She is leaning against the balcony railing, staring out into the city, her long red tresses billowing in the wind. Grace is lost in thought.

She hears Will behind her. 

“Sweetie?” Will approaches Grace tentatively from behind, unsure how to broach something quite important. Grace continues to gaze at the cityscape in front of her, not turning her head to look at Will. 

“I don’t mean to pry ... You know I would never push you into talking to me about anything you weren’t ready to tell me? ... And you know I would never judge you, if you decided to share certain things with me? Things that you have never gone through before? ... What I am saying is, I will always be by your side, no matter what you choose.” Will is trying to find the right words to open the subject of Karen to Grace.

Grace has no idea that Will knows about what happened between her and Karen that night. 

Grace couldn’t have known that Will woke up in the middle of the night, hearing the two of them through the apartment walls. Their groans were so loud, Will thought that the walls would cave in. 

He figured out what was happening.

Will also knows Grace like the back of his hand. 

He knows why Grace has suddenly ditched work, something Grace would never ever do under normal circumstances. 

He knows why Grace has been spending so much time with Ellen and Rob, having game nights, playing bowling. 

Most important of all, Will knows even though Grace hasn’t caught on yet, why Grace is doing all these things.

Grace is freaking out. Because Grace thinks of herself as straight. 

Will feels for his best friend.

Will scrunches up his face into his signature frown, deciding to cut to the chase, and blatantly asks, softly, gently.

“Do you like Karen?”

Grace’s eyes widen as her head swings around to stare at Will, and much too hurriedly, frantically, defensively replies:

“No! I do not!” Grace’s features are panicked, like a mouse cornered with nowhere else to go, as Will utters the words Grace is most scared of, lets it loose into the world.

Just as quickly, Grace’s head drops down, her gaze falling towards the ground, staring at the balcony floor, lost. A bothered look crosses her face.

“Maybe.” Grace softly lets out, finally.

“Maybe?” Will gently prods Grace, understanding and concern in his voice.

Grace slowly looks up to meet Will’s gaze, a resigned, tired, honest, vulnerable expression in her eyes.

“Yeah. I think I do.” There was no other answer. Grace is tired of fighting it. 

“Oh, Sweetie.” Will closes the distance between them, engulfs Grace in a hug, and gently rocks Grace in his arms. He knows something this big would cause his best friend to become unbalanced.

Grace hugs Will back, her forehead on Will’s shoulder, arms wrapping around Will’s waist. Grace feels the rigidity and tension slowly leave her body a little, relief seeping in at being able to finally admit to herself, admit to another person. 

She can’t get Karen out of her head.

As Will and Grace break their hug, Will looks intently into Grace’s eyes and says,

“Gracie? We have a visitor in the living room, waiting to talk to you. You think you can manage to talk to her?”

Grace’s head jerks up, her eyes once again widen with panic, her lips puckering into a small Ohh as she frantically grips Will’s arms and sucks her breath in.

Instinctively, Grace knows exactly who Will is referring to. 

“I would volunteer to sit with you guys to play arbitrator, but i genuinely think that this would be best handled by you and Karen.”

Grace’s skin turns a sickly shade of gray. She doesn’t know what she is going to tell Karen. She doesn’t want to hurt her. But she can’t seem to get past her panic at the thought that she likes a girl.

Will slowly lets go of Grace, gently pushing Grace towards the balcony doors. Grace is robotically, stiffly moving her limbs, trying to delay the inevitable, trying to buy herself more time.

Karen is seated on the sofa, still in the red silk dress she wore during Jack and Rosario’s wedding.

There is a seriousness about Karen that Grace has never seen before.

Karen looks up when she hears Will and Grace emerge from the balcony. Karen unconsciously tilts her chin up, defensive, bracing herself for the emotions that were sure to come now that Grace was here.

Will looks at the two women, and quietly heads for his bedroom, not saying another word. Will is hoping for the best. He can sense that Karen is in love with Grace. And that Grace wasn’t quite there, just yet.

Grace slowly, dragging her feet, walks over to the sofa and sits down quietly beside Karen.

Karen stares at Grace, her lips tightly pressed together, trying to get her emotions under control.

“Gracie? I’m not here to talk about us. I’m just here to tell you that maybe we should forget about what happened between us several weeks ago. Just forget about everything.”

Karen looks down at her lap, her hands clasped together tightly, fingers painfully intertwined, their grip causing Karen pain. Karen is fighting the urge to hold Grace.

As Grace looks at Karen, she senses what Karen is not saying. Grace tries to swallow a lump in her throat. But for the life of her, it feels as if her vocal cords are stuck together. Grace can’t bring herself to say anything back. She can’t bring herself to utter a word to Karen. 

Karen looks up, and her heart melts as she looks into Grace’s eyes. 

She sees fear and confusion clearly reflected in them. Karen sees Grace’s inner turmoil. 

Karen vows to fix this whole mess. She continues to speak, inwardly holding herself in check.

“You don’t have to keep avoiding me Grace. You can start coming back to the office. The heat is fixed. You don’t have to keep spending so much time with your friends. Playing games, going bowling.”

Grace winces at Karen’s words. Grace imagines that Will has been telling Karen everything she has been up to. How else would Karen know these things?

“And ...” Karen twists her fingers, her fingers turning a pinkish, reddish shade. She continues to twist them painfully as she lets out,

“You don’t have to go running back to Danny. He isn’t the one for you Grace. He doesn’t deserve you.”

Grace’s head jerks, her whole body reacting, as she stares at Karen incredulously. She can’t believe Will told Karen that Danny was here at the apartment.

Karen, sensing Grace’s turbulent emotions, keeping her voice even, bravely says,

“I know you slept with him Grace. But you can really do better.”

Karen’s chin tilts up a bit higher, higher than she would have liked. The dull pain in her chest that began when she laid eyes on Grace, is becoming more intense. She begins to feel her breathing becoming more constricted. 

Karen is here for Grace. So she and Grace can return to how they used to be. And Grace will stop seeing Danny. Karen cannot stand by and watch Grace end up with that no good loser.  


She’ll just have to go running to Pharmacist 1 and 2 later, to get triple doses of everything. 

Grace’s fearful expression cracks, snapping her out of whatever fear that has been gripping her, whatever guilt she has been going through. 

“Karen?” Grace says softly, tentatively, her slightly shaking hand reaching up to cup the side of Karen’s face. 

Karen braces herself as Grace reaches up to touch her cheek, inhaling deeply to steady the pain, as if by knives, repeatedly slashing down the middle of her chest. It won’t be long now, she will be out of here. All fixed. No harm done.

“I didn’t sleep with Danny. I couldn’t.”

Karen’s face visibly crumbles in utter disbelief, her colouring turning pale. Weakness washes over her whole being, she can feel her insides crashing. 

Karen feels faint. Karen is unable to hold her stance anymore. 

Before all energy rapidly leaves her body, Karen leans towards Grace, letting herself go. She crashes into Grace’s arms and desperately, weakly covers Grace’s lips with hers, relief consuming her.

Grace catches Karen, holding her tightly, as close as she can, against her. 

Grace continues to talk softly against Karen’s lips, in between kisses.

“We had dinner ...” Grace tightens her hold on Karen as she feels Karen stiffen slightly, not withdrawing her lips from Karen's. Grace senses that Karen needs the comfort of Grace’s kisses. “We went back here ... He slept in my room ... On the floor ... I kicked him off the bed when i realized i couldn’t ... It would be a lie, you see ... He begged me to let him sleep on the floor ... He didn’t want to lose face ... knowing Will would see him leave.”

Karen lifts her head, looks at Grace’s eyes, and leans in weakly to rest her forehead against Grace’s. 

Karen is shaking from having almost lost Grace.

Grace’s arms tighten around Karen, a tear trickling down her cheek, realizing how much Karen must’ve been hurting these past weeks. How much Grace has been hurting her.

Grace pulls back a bit to initiate a kiss, softly covering Karen’s lips. Karen urgently pushes Grace back, down onto the sofa, her body moving to cover Grace's.

The door to Will’s bedroom softly closes, as Will decides that he has heard what he needs to hear and that it is time for him to go to bed. 

The girls never have to know that he wasn’t going to let either of them walk away.


End file.
